Another week of relatively good workouts all done with a mostly unstable mind. Sorry for sounding like a complete looney tune last week and all during this week. I was beyond excited for everyone racing yesterday in Eugene, Big Sur and at the Nike Half in DC. There were some epic performances and I am so proud of everyone who raced their hearts out.

When I got to work this morning, I took the plunge and signed up for a marathon. I worked too hard to give up now. My friends showed me that yesterday. I am running the {Inaugural} Liberty Marathon on Saturday May 25. The course starts and ends in Jersey City and runs through Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken and Weehawken. It is flat and I have no idea how it is going to go.

Pros: I am only 20 minutes from Jersey City so I can sleep in my bed and my family and friends can come watch and we can go to Zeppelin Hall Biergaten after.

Cons: It is NOT a Boston qualifying course. So…..that’s that.

If you’re in NYC, Jersey City, or Hoboken on Memorial Day weekend and want to come to a great event, please do! I would love the support!

Monday 4/22: OFF

Tuesday 4/23: 3 mi run. Easy pace, lower loop of Central Park.

Wednesday 4/24: 7.25 mi speedwork. The plan was 3 mile tempo, 2x800m, 4x400m. The tempo portion was more like mile repeats because I took a hefty break between miles 2 and 3 to chat with Jess and the Lulu run club!

Even though my splits were varied, it was a great workout and I was happy to check it off the list!

Thursday 4/25: AM: 2.75 mi run, easy effort.

PM: 60 min Refine Method

Friday 4/26: OFF

Saturday 4/27: 60 min spin.Spin instructor audition at NYSC. Great pieces from everyone who auditioned! Best part…. I got the job! As soon as I find out when/where I’m teaching, I expect NJ residents to come to the classes! Seriously.

Sunday 4/28: Mike Women’s Half Marathon. 1 mile warmup, 13.1 race (1:58:34). Race recap to come soon, but in general I felt pretty awful during most of the race but was happy to spend the weekend with Ritsa (she PRd) and run the race with Danielle and Krissy!

It turns out that the new Pocono Marathon course has been certified but it is now open to traffic. I mentally checked out of the marathon because of the construction issue and the uncertainty surrounding the cancelation. During the last 10 days, I have been extremely indecisive. Initially I was angry and disappointed about the Pocono Marathon, then I was elated when Jess and I chose a replacement race in California, then when that fell through I was really sad again. I don’t feel a connection to any race. I am no longer excited to cross a specific finish line. I’m annoying and sad because I have been working really hard during my training to cross a finish line with significant improvement from my last less-than-stellar marathon performance. I feel like I am at a cross roads right now, do I pick a random race, do I NOT run? I turned to Coach Steph for some advice, I explained my feelings about certain races and then basically asked her to choose for me. I’ve been working hard for 16 weeks and I want to race. Unfortunately, right now it is still VERY much undecided. So that’s where I am. Despite that, i will continue to run. It is what I do best (besides telling really good jokes).

Monday 4/15:60 min Refine Method. I mainly remember heavy weights and lots of jumping. This was also the first class where I had the chance to jump to the pull-up bar. I missed most of the time. Unfortunately it was early in the class and I put in a ton of effort to get to the bar (determined).

Tuesday 4/16: Lunch: 4.5 mi run. Jess and I ran in Central Park in race tees and chatted about the Boston Marathon. It was a sad run.

PM: 3 mi speedwork, 10x 400m. This was my first time back on the track in a while! I went with Fizz’s mom this time! I did a 0.5 mi warmup and then completed a solid but exhausting set of 400m intervals: (1) 1:39 (2) 1:41 (3) 1:43 (4) 1:42 (5) 1:40 (6) 1:41 (7) 1:45 (8) 1:45 (9) 1:44 (10) 1:45. My pace ranged from 6:36-6:59. I went out a bit fast for the first few and ran the rest with slight discomfort. Overall I am happy with the result!

Wednesday 4/17: OFF (travel to Cali for RAGNAR!)

Thursday 4/18: 3.25 mi run. I was staying with my cousin in Long Beach the day before Ragnar so I ran along the Long Beach Bike/Run path which was beautiful. This is 2 blocks away from her front door:

Friday 4/19-Saturday 4/20: 26.2 mi,Ragnar SoCal. I will do a FULL recap soon, I promise. it was epic. My mileage total was 26.2 which is both random and awesome. My legs were as follows:

Leg 1: 4.9 mi, 7:52 avg

Leg 2: 8.5mi, 8:32 avg

Leg 3: 5.5 mi, 7:45 avg

I also jumped in with other teammates for an additional 7 miles (spread over a few runs)! Erin was kind enough to run the last mile of my 2nd leg with me after I sent her a text saying I wasn’t going to survive. I LOVE TEAMWORK!

I’ll start with my workout recap from the (It is short) –> I ran 11 miles last week and went to Refine Method twice. I had a solid tempo run so that is good news. Then I didn’t feel like running for the remainder of the week. I can’t explain it. I think i just got lazy.

Early Friday morning, I woke up to the following text from Jess, “Um… Our marathon just sent out an email that makes me believe it may not be a Boston Qualifying course any longer.” After further investigation, the email from the race director of the Run for the Red Pocono Marathon explained that they were completely blindsided by the Pennsylvania DOT’s decision to close a bridge which would cause the marathon course to change.

What does this even mean? A new course was mapped by the race director. It has the same elevation drop as the last course (approx. 1,400 feet loss) but the drop is over a shorter distance and is hillier. Great graphic thanks to Jess‘s wonderful art skills:

It also means that we have to wait until April 22 to see if the course will be certified. If it couldn’t be certified, it would potentially be canceled. Realistically, I am not yet capable of running a BQ time, but FOR FUN let’s say I did and it didn’t count, I probably wouldn’t be a fun person to be around.

Unlike the NYCM/Richmond Marathon fiasco/journey just 6 months ago, to avoid any type of stress and uncertainty, Jess and I decided to forgo running the Pocono Marathon. We will choose a race a bit further out and continue to kick ass in training, together.

Note: if you don’t want your marathon to be canceled, don’t sign up for the same race that we do. We are like the marathon plague.

Come back next week for Week 12 of marathon training workouts (I actually plan on running).

Meet Ashley

Welcome to Running Bun! I am Ashley, a working-mom who loves running and training for races, attempting yoga inversions, a strong cocktail, and a good dose of sarcasm. This blog is where I share a lot of random thoughts about the above with some parenting woes mixed in for good measure.